Of Money and Mercenaries
by Spunky Mutt
Summary: Starfox is hired by an antique collector to obtain for him a special artifact, but when they realize that several other mercenary teams have been hired by the same man for the same task, the desire for substantial payment turns things into a dicey mess.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARFOX. NINTENDO OWNS ANY STARFOX RELATED PLACES, CHARACTERS, ETC. ALL OC'S BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), WHO HAVE GIVEN ME PERMISSION TO USE THEM FOR THIS FANFICTION.**

**Author's Note: Yeah, it's me again with yet another fic. I got the idea for it after reading a much older and not-very-well-written fanfiction I did a long time ago, and I decided to remake it. You might all know it as "Spontaneity Knows No Boundaries", but I assure you this one will be much better. Please read and review! -Sapphire :3**

* * *

**Prologue**

Explosions erupted in thick plumes of fire and smoke across the jungle canvas. Blaster fire streaked through the tree trunks in fabulous flashes of light in varied shades of red, blue, yellow, and green, illuminating the night in brief spurts of energy. Everywhere growls and snappish barks echoed fiercely through the foliage, but a sudden downpour began to silence them. Raindrops pattered on fan-like leaves, and several shadows began slipping away from each other through the cover of the forest, looking for shelter.

A small group found cover in a cave crudely dug out of a rock face, where they waited out in the storm in wary anticipation.

"Dang, these natives really don't want us near their treasure." squawked one.

"But I thought the info that weird old goat sent us said this planet hasn't been inhabited for nearly a thousand years?" squeaked another.

"He also said he hadn't actually been here, Slippy. It's possible there was an inaccuracy in his reports." said someone else.

"I don't know, Fox," a smooth feminine voice came in, "Their thoughts tell me they're after it as much as we are. That doesn't sound like natives simply protecting a sacred artifact to me."

"Are you saying they could be hired mercenaries?" Fox asked surprised.

"I'm saying they _are_ hired mercenaries." she answered grimly.

"Krystal's sixth sense never lies." Slippy agreed.

"Do you think we were set up?" Falco's feathers ruffled angrily.

"I don't know _what's _going on." Fox answered perplexed, "But we're stuck here until this rain dies down."

"And to think this never would've happened if we hadn't agreed to that stupid job offer." Slippy grumbled resigned.

The others said nothing in response and watched the outside world like sentries. The silhouettes of several others, their eyes gleaming yellow, red, and green in the dark, scurried frantically through the forest in search of proper shelter from the storm. Their shapes were distinct yet amorphous at the same time without adequate lighting to see them properly, leaving the darkness of the imagination to twist and mold them into terrifying creatures born from deep-rooted fears and desperate answers to difficult questions.


	2. Chapter 1

**2 Days Earlier…**

The time read 4:00 in bright green on the digital alarm clock sitting next to Fox's bed when the intercom buzzed to life. According to ROB, he had received an automated message from an unfamiliar source regarding some sort of job offer. Realizing the importance of such a message, the vulpine man forced himself out of bed rather unenthusiastically. He quickly made himself presentable enough, ignoring the sleepy and almost bloodshot weight in his otherwise lucid and ever-sharp emerald eyes, and trudged through the sliding steel door and out into the hallway.

The lights were cruel with their unusually bright intensity, but he knew they only seemed so bright because he'd just been happily asleep in that blissful and very dark void between dreams. Everything would be painfully intensified until his eyes finally woke up and adjusted. Until then he'd have to settle for limping through the corridor squinting like a feeble, blind old man, thankful no one else would be up and about for at least another hour or so. By the time he reached the turbo-lift, he was almost awake.

He shot up the various levels to the top, wondering all the way up why there were so many floors to the Great Fox. Come to think of it, why was the ship so big? The Arwings didn't take up _that_ much space, and there were only five people residing on the ship plus two guest quarters. Who was using all of the extra space and what for? He made a mental note to investigate this at a later time as the lift doors slid open.

"I appreciate the promptness, ROB," Fox yawned as he approached the droid at his station, "but you could've just told me when I got up."

"My apologies," ROB pulled up the message for the leader, "I thought you should be informed of it immediately seeing as the sender was not one of our usual employers, but I will remember this in the future."

"Much appreciated," he chuckled as the video played.

The head of a pure white ram adorned with gold encrusted trinkets on his curled horns and pierced ears appeared on the screen. He was seated in an aristocratic setting that showed off several valuable antiques on cherry wood shelves behind him.

"Greetings, Starfox, my name is Sebastian Lorenzo, and I am an antique collector. I've requested your services to obtain for me an ancient artifact of particular importance to my collection. You will, of course, be paid handsomely if the item is relayed to me untouched. If you are interested in such an endeavor, I can be reached at this frequency. Thank you for your time." with that, the message cut off, and the team emblem labeled the screen again.

"I'm intrigued." Fox murmured as he mulled this over and shrugged, "Save the message, ROB, I'm going back to bed. I'll call a meeting with the others later, and we'll decide what to do then."

"Affirmative, sleep well, Fox."

"Thanks,"

* * *

"It seems harmless enough." Krystal commented once the message concluded for the second time that morning and disappeared from the screen displayed at the front of a round wooden table.

"Yeah, but why would he need to hire mercenaries to get some antique? Sounds a little risky on his part." Falco was dubious.

"We're not exactly as cut-throat as most mercenaries, Falco." Fox pointed out, "He knows he can trust us not to double-cross him."

The blue bird grumbled under his breath, not entirely convinced.

"Look, he promised a substantial reward if we did this for him. I think we should give it a shot, and if we change our minds once we get the details on this, we just go our separate ways and move on to the next thing that comes our way."

"Yeah, whenever that happens." Slippy sank back in his seat.

"Slippy and Fox are right," Krystal piped up, "I think we should at least see what the man has to say. It's better than sitting around like this."

"So we're all in agreement then?" Fox scanned the briefing room for any naysayers and grinned triumphantly when he saw none.

He walked to the intercom panel in the room and pressed a red-lit button. "ROB, hail Mr. Lorenzo's frequency and patch through to the briefing room, please."

"Affirmative,"

In the time it took him to return to his place at the table, the channel was patched through, and they were all staring at the clean-cut frame of the white ram.

"Good morning, Mr. Lorenzo." Fox greeted politely.

"And to you, Mr. McCloud, it's an honor to finally meet all of you." he dipped his head, his tone cordial.

"Uh, just Fox is fine, sir." the vulpine leader corrected uncomfortably.

"Very well, I assume you're responding to the offer I sent you?"

"You assume correctly. We wouldn't mind getting some details before we decide to sign on."

"Of course, as you already know, I am a collector of rare antiques, and I need but one more special artifact to complete my latest collection. Unfortunately, the terrain where it's located is far too treacherous for me to go trekking through, so I'm left with resorting to hiring someone more rough-and-tumble than myself to do the dirty work, so to speak, of obtaining it for me."

Fox raised a brow in an are-you-serious manner. He'd never had himself referred to as "rough-and-tumble" before. He heard Falco snickering behind him and smiled slightly when he heard his avian friend give a muted yelp at being thusly smacked by Krystal to keep quiet.

"Sounds easy enough of a task. What exactly are we looking for?"

"It's called the 'Serpent's Coil', named rightly so for the serpentine form it is shaped after. Crafted over a thousand years ago by a primal reptilian race-

"Uh, that's okay, Mr. Lorenzo," Fox stopped him, not really wanting to hear the lengthy, in-depth and probably boring historical background to a snake figurine, "Just the name and a picture will be fine."

"Oh, yes, well," he cleared his throat embarrassed and continued on, "In any case, this is a very valuable and _very_ fragile piece. If it's been abused in any way, shape, or form, the appropriate amount will be deducted from your pay. Are there any further questions?"

Fox looked behind him to his team and watched them all shrug or shake their heads. "No, I don't believe so."

"Then do we have an agreement?"

"You can count on Team Starfox."

"Excellent!" Lorenzo clapped his hands together in finality and began typing away at his panel, "I'm sending you all the necessary information, including coordinates, a brief history of the 'Serpent's Coil', and a map of the territory, although I'm afraid the map is quite crude as I've never been to the planet myself."

"That's okay, we've dealt with worse."

"Thank you again, Starfox," the ram bowed his head graciously, "I am in your debt."

His image fizzled out as the vulpine man turned to his friends. "Are we good, or are we?" he bragged as they filed out of the room, "Slippy, start looking at what he sent us, and have ROB set a route to those coordinates."

"What was with the 'you can count on team Starfox' thing?" Falco laughed as he performed a cheesy impersonation of the cheesy line.

"I was trying to lay it on thick!" Fox objected.

"Too thick, man, I thought I was going to die of embarrassment!"

Krystal only shook her head with an amused gleam in her eye as she watched them argue all the way to the bridge.


	3. Chapter 2

**What's This?**

The soulful, heart-pounding blare of alternative rock echoed in the hollow steel hangar bay. One lone fighter-type ship sat docked as a small, black-and-white feline boy laid underneath working at it with a wrench, the music originating from a rusty old boom-box.

He didn't look any older than fourteen and was dressed in ragged street-clothing. His dark coat shone with an amazing softness that looked unbecoming of his otherwise scruffy appearance. Something under the fighter beeped, and he rolled out from underneath and sat up to investigate the flashing green light on his wrist communicator. His eyes were a strange silvery-blue bordered by teal and a thin rim of golden yellow towards his lids. He blinked as he listened to the message that appeared on the communicator and beamed excitedly. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and scurried through the narrow-growing metal corridors.

His heart pounded with anticipation as he raced to a small room lit by a television screen. Sitting on an old recliner was a middle-aged, much larger and overweight male black cat. His left ear was shriveled and scarred, and his pale yellow-green eyes held an intimidating stare. His garb was not very dissimilar from the younger cat's.

"Reggie!!!!" the feline boy crashed into the huge mass of fur.

"I'm eating, come back later." Reggie replied bluntly.

"But Re-

"Let me show you something, Felix." He calmly shoved Felix away a small distance and held up a half-eaten sandwich as if he were auctioning it away, "What is this?"

"A tuna salad sandwich?"

"_A tuna salad sandwich_." he nodded, "I have been looking forward to this sandwich _all_ day. It's my special little treat for a day of honest, hard work, and you crashing through these noisy hallways like the warped little maniac you are is squandering the whole moment."

Felix rolled his eyes in disbelief. Reggie was the laziest man he'd ever met and wouldn't know the meaning of 'honest hard work' if it left a bad taste in his mouth after sucking down all the food he ate in a day like a vacuum cleaner. He was just being dramatic in the hopes that he'd leave him alone to his precious food and TV, but this was far too important.

"Yeah, that's great and everything, but be an authority figure for five minutes and watch this." he scuttled over to a side desk and pulled a laptop over with him. He set it on his older friend's lap and flipped it open, fiddling with the keyboard to open the message.

"I said no, Felix, I'm tired. I don't want to think about work."

"Just sit there and watch it. I promise it's worth it!"

The kitten watched as his friend's expression transformed from sheer boredom to mild interest, a feat for the feline man.

"All right, fine, we'll see what this Lorenzo person has to offer."

"Yay!" Felix squealed and streaked away jubilantly through the halls, "We're going on an adventure!!!"

* * *

"How very strange that we'd be offered such a task. Surely he must be aware of our criminal record. Everybody is." mused Leon, his curled tail coiling even tighter as he thought, "I don't like the feel of this, Wolf. Something's fishy."

"Don't go twisting your tail in a knot now, Leon," came the smooth tone of Panther, "He _did_ say he was looking for someone who wasn't afraid to go to certain lengths to get this precious trinket of his. It must be quite the item if it's _that_ well guarded."

"That's the thing!" Leon screeched, "We don't know any of that! What does that even mean, 'certain lengths'?"

"He's probably implying that we have to steal it. It would explain why he came to us. He could just pin the blame on us if things go awry. Quit being so paranoid about this and relax."

"And you would agree to that with full knowledge!?"

"_I_ never get caught."

"Quit bickering, you two." growled Wolf, who'd grown tired of listening to his companions ever since he cut off communications with the antique collector, "We agreed to do his dirty work, so let's just see what we're dealing with. Let's go for a ride."

The three slipped through the halls of Sargasso Hideout, nodding a greeting to the simian workers they passed along the way to their Wolfens.

* * *

The blinding desert sun of Titania was particularly hot today. Not even the native wildlife dared make a move to venture outside as the boiling sand baked the few shrubs sprouting from the parched ground to a suffocating crisp. From a small shack connected to an old den of some sort, agitated shouts could be heard.

"No, no, you're doing it all wrong! You're supposed to twist it like this."

"Don't touch it! I can do it myself; just keep reading me those instructions."

"Fine, step 6: Connect the two blue wires—I said _blue_, moron!—and seal them together."

"Don't get snippy with me! I wouldn't even need your sorry help if it weren't so hard to see."

"Are you almost done fiddling with that thing? It's so hot in here!"

Three canine men, a fawn-colored Sheltie, an Australian shepherd, and a Jack Russell Terrier, sat seething with irritation instigated on by the stifling heat. The shepherd was knelt beside what looked like an old AC unit with the Sheltie bent over him with the user manual. The Jack Russell flopped over a shabby sofa melodramatically, his tongue lolling.

"Well _my goodness_, Flik," groaned the shepherd to the terrier exasperatedly, "Maybe if Tak just read the instructions without the unwanted opinions thrown in-

As he tugged at the metal innards, the contraption gave a groan and clunked noisily to life. The two hurried to its front and sighed relieved as the cool air blew away the trapped heat out from under their fur coats.

"There, see?" he brushed himself off, "You can count on ol' Ziggy to fix your clunkers."

When he got no response, he deadpanned. "A 'thank you' would be nice."

"Now, now, Ziggy, let them have their moment." mediated an older and large brindle Great Dane as he walked in from the stone den, "You know you are always highly appreciated."

His gleaming yellow eyes and scarred face made him a terrifying sight despite his placid expression. He ripped off a chunk of tough, peppered-beef jerky with sharp and powerful fangs like it was a piece of paper.

"You two," he tapped on Tak's and Flik's shoulders, "Stop daydreaming about snow storms and get ready to go. Bree's landed us another job."

"You mean we're leaving?" Ziggy was beside himself, "But I just fixed that thing! The heat'll warp it, and it'll be all out of whack again by the time we get back!"

"So just take it with you to the ship then." said a younger she-mutt with soft brown fur, a curling tail, and gentle yellow eyes.

She wore an orange spaghetti-strap top with baggy tan shorts and brown sneakers. She didn't look like their leader, but the way Ziggy eyed her said otherwise, and he nodded with a meek smile.

"Good idea, Bree."

She smiled back and nodded to him before braving the sun and sand.

Bone followed behind her. "I want to see you all on the Rogue Star in an hour. We're leaving then." he called out behind his shoulder to the remaining three.

Ziggy turned to mechanism off and sighed. "All right, you lot, grab an end and help me haul this thing to my Loner. I think it'll be just small enough to fit in the cargo hatch."

Tak and Flik groaned but complied grudgingly.

* * *

Shrieks and screams of bloody murder ricocheted off the metal walls and shattered the ears of all present aboard the Blue Egotist. A kholi, a strange feline-and-canine creature with tall, erect ears, large glowing eyes, and two sleek tails with fluffy tips, streaked down a wide hallway and burst through the open door of the mess hall, his fiery red eyes ablaze with worry and bloodlust, which puffed out his gray coat underneath his reminiscently militaristic black uniform. He deflated instantly upon seeing a young white ewe being held at bay, and screaming very fitfully, by a taller and much more foreboding crow holding what looked like a pudding cup in his other wing.

"FARELLO!" she hollered, her red eyes staring daggers into his as he tousled her violet locks, "Give me back my pudding!!!"

"Is that any way to ask your dearest friend, Trey?" he gulped down a spoonful of gooey sweetness, "Try again the proper way."

The kholi rolled his eyes thoroughly annoyed, swiped the cup away from Farello's black feathers, and broke them up.

"Orpheus!" Trey did her best to sound affectionate, "You'll indulge your leader with a pudding cup, won't you?"

"Of course," he brought it down, only to bring it back up the minute she reached for it, "Only if you promise to stop screaming like a banshee."

"DONE! GIMME!" she bleated and squealed happily when it was placed in her palms.

Trey stuck out a pudding-coated tongue to the crow. "_See_, Farello? _Orpheus _is nice!"

Farello seemed to grow melancholic. "Forgive me; it's my way of showing my faith and adoration in you and your abilities as leader." he sniffled emotionally, "I wish, and have always wished, for nothing more than your success."

Orpheus rolled his eyes. Farello had pulled this stunt before. He meant most of it, but the emotion behind it was all fake.

"Yeah, whatever," he mewled, "Just keep it down. Oh yeah, Trey, remember to give your answer to that Lorenzo-dude before the day's out."

"Okay!"

"That's key for 'right now' since you apparently can't take a hint." He goaded her irritably.

"Don't push it, Orphy." The sheep scowled as she mouthed another spoonful of pudding on the way out.

As the door slid open, a feminine, dusky brown rabbit and a white pup with unusually long ears and fiery orange roots peeking out from underneath his floppy cap collapsed inside, the support from the door suddenly gone.

"Really, guys, snooping?" Orpheus asked.

"We heard screaming." The rabbit dusted off her frosty blue mini-dress.

She would have been a pretty sight if _she_ wasn't, in fact, a _he._ Abel was a cross dresser, and a very good one at that. Why he did it was beyond the kholi's comprehension. It was weird, awkward, and very creepy, but Abel was an excellent medic. That was all he needed to know.

"Besides," the canine boy added in his thick German accent, "It's _our_ ship too. We can do what we want."

"Fascinating," Orpheus muttered bored, "Well, I'm going to the bridge now, bye."

"Dang it, Roth," cried Abel once the grouchy kholi was out of earshot, "If you had been listening like you were supposed to, we wouldn't have gotten caught!"

"It's not my fault you didn't have a back-up plan! You know my ears aren't as finely tuned as yours, nosy!"

* * *

"How much are we talking exactly?"

"That is to be determined when and if you give me the 'Serpent's Coil'." Lorenzo answered as a projection on a computer screen.

"I don't know if I like that answer, Sebastian." warned a gray she-wolf.

Her turquoise eyes were bordered with a simple pair of glasses. Silver hair was pulled back into a long, low pony-tail with bangs framing her white face. She wore a white t-shirt underneath a brown combat vest along with skin-tight brown jean shorts that stopped well above the knee.

Sitting around her was the rest of her team, a red fox, another gray wolf, a very foreboding black jaguar, a coyote, and a cougar. All of them were men except for the coyote.

"It doesn't matter how much you like it, Miss Grayfang, it's a fact."

"And what do you mean _if_ we get it to you?"

"It's a very treacherous terrain filled with sometimes very dangerous wildlife. I don't exaggerate when I say you may not return."

"That sounds like a challenge." she grinned mischievously, "We accept."

"Thank you all, Animus."

* * *

The room was comfortably dark where a young, brown-and-white she-wolf slept fitfully among the tousled bed of quilts. She squinted and groaned when the light from the outside poured in through the now open doorway.

"Timber, you've been sleeping the day away in here." A male border collie spoke softly but firmly, his voice holding a slight Irish accent, "You still have to give your answer to the antique ram."

"Yes," Timber moaned out and buried herself in her bed again.

"No, to him, not me." The canine man ripped the blanket off of her.

"Can't you tell him for me? I'm tired."

"No, you're the leader. That's what leaders do."

"Fine." She sighed and gave in, "Will you prep his frequency and hail him in a few minutes then, Zeke?"

"Of course."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit."

He left her to prepare for the day.

* * *

When Timber appeared on the bridge, she was in a brown t-shirt and jade green pants. A pair of large brown shades adorned the top of her head of shoulder-length brown hair like a makeshift headband. Her yellow eyes scanned the bridge vaguely, almost as if she were simply checking to see if everything was as she left it the previous night.

"Look, she's up!" remarked a brown she-kholi with bright blue eyes in mock amazement.

"Good morning to you too, Faye." Timber shrugged it off casually.

"Ready when you are, Timber." Zeke called out with an over-dramatic wave of the hand.

In the light, he was easier to see. His black and white coat displayed a clean, glossy shine, and he had one bronze-hued eye and a powder blue eye. He wore a simple collared brown buttoned shirt left open to show the white undershirt beneath along with blue jeans and white sneakers.

Timber smiled amused and then went blank.

"What?"

"You're answering that Lorenzo-guy's query."

"Who?"

"That guy that called us yesterday? There was a meeting about it."

"Was I there for that?"

"_You_ called the meeting!" Zeke slapped his muzzle in disbelief.

"I did?"

"_Yes!!!_"

"Oh," she paused to think, "Okay then, what are we answering with?"

"JUST SAY YES!" both Faye and Zeke roared.

* * *

**Author's Note: Weee! Lots of lines! I tried to make these short, but I absolutely HAD to introduce the other teams that have been hired for this seemingly innocent task (Oh me, oh my, what on earth could he possibly be up to? :3) . It'll make the other chapters WAAAAAY easier for me to write. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Bio Reference

**Author's Note: I got a message from someone yesterday requesting bios of the teams. At first I thought, "No, I think I'll be fine," but eventually I realized it might be wise to give you readers some sort of reference to look back at since this story could get hectic with so many characters. So here you go! A brief bio of each character in each team. Chapter 3 should be here either tomorrow or Monday!**_**Team Felidae**_

* * *

**Leader**

Name: Reginald III

Species: Cat

Age: 40

**Member(s)**

Name: Felix Wompus

Species: Cat

Age: 14

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Standard fighter-type (stolen from a Cornerian military base)

* * *

_**Dog Pack**_

**Leader**

Name: Bree

Species: Akita/Coyote crossbreed

Age: 20

**Member(s)**

Name: Bone

Species: Great Dane

Age: 47

Rank: Second-in-command

Name: Tak

Species: Shetland sheepdog

Age: 19

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Loner (essentially a small Wolfen colored brown and grey)

Name: Ziggy

Species: Australian Shepherd

Age: 23

Rank: Mechanic/Pilot

Ship: Loner

Name: Flik

Species: Jack Russell Terrier

Age: 18

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Loner

* * *

_**Team Blue Egotist**_

**Leader**

Name: Trecia "Trey" Moretti

Species: Sheep

Age: 18

**Member(s)**

Name: Farello

Species: Crow

Age: 30

Rank: Second-in-command

Name: Roth

Species: Dog of unknown breed

Age: 16

Rank: Mechanic

Name: Abel

Species: Rabbit

Age: 18

Rank: Medic/Pilot

Ship: Feralite (Piranha-like fighter)

Name: Orpheus

Species: Kholi

Age: 21

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Feralite

* * *

_**Team Animus**_

**Leader**

Name: Juneau Grayfang

Species: Gray wolf

Age: 22

**Member(s)**

Name: Kane Blackshell

Species: Black jaguar

Age: 25

Rank: Second-in-command

Name: Sevren Silvertail

Species: Gray wolf

Age: 23

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Hunter (Jagged-looking Arwing with pin-point laser accuracy)

Name: Ro'ak Brushfur

Species: Red fox

Age: 21

Rank: Pilot

Ship: Hunter

Name: Kaia Brushfur

Species: Coyote

Age: 20

Rank: Medic

Name: Cole Sharpclaw

Species: Cougar

Age: 22

Rank: Mechanic

* * *

_**Team Star Cloud**_

**Leader**

Name: Timber "Odie" Odell

Species: Wolf

Age: 18

**Member(s)**

Name: Faye

Species: Kholi

Age: 21

Rank: Medic/Pilot

Ship: Star Runner (Arwing modified to accelerate to incredible speeds; light-weight with average laser power; relies mainly on its agility)

Name: Zeke Godfrey

Species: Border Collie

Age: 22

Rank: Mechanic/Pilot

Ship: Star Runner


	5. Chapter 3

**The Smell of Rain**

It was an ugly yet strangely beautiful planet. The muggy heat made Fox and Krystal swelter in their thick fur. Falco seemed less affected by it, but Slippy ate it up, never able to find enough nice things to say about the supposedly wonderful weather. It was an amphibian thing.

It seemed like the whole planet was covered in one dense enormous jungle. They were just barely able to land their Arwings in such a place, and Fox was still skeptic as to whether they would be okay there.

The thick canopy almost entirely blotted out the sun, making it hard for them to make their way through the undergrowth. Horned snakes looked like thorny vines draping innocently over gnarled branches while lizards sporting feathery manes scuttled down the tree trunks, their jittery and jerky motions reminiscent of nervous squirrels.

"Where exactly are we headed, Slip?" Fox asked when he finally tired of wandering.

The toad pulled a small portable screen up from his wrist communicator and scrolled through the information displayed until he found what he needed.

"According to this, the natives kept the figurine in a large stone temple where it could be viewed by the commoners. The map says it's located in a huge swamp down south."

"Awesome, how far are we talking?" Falco shooed away a curious snake.

Slippy grimaced, "It's far, a two-day walk, and there's no way we can bring the Arwings any closer to the location without risking getting them stuck."

"Well then, it looks like we'll be trekking." Fox agreed.

"Oh joy," Krystal was less than enthusiastic as she swiped at mosquitoes and pulled burs out of her exceptionally bushy tail, made even fluffier from the humidity.

* * *

"I could get used to this." Leon stretched comfortably in the jungle heat.

"Me too," Panther agreed harmoniously.

Wolf grunted as he wriggled out of his Wolfen. "I haven't been here five minutes, and I already hate the place." he growled when he finally got out, his cockpit door having gotten stuck by a stray branch, "Let's just get this over with and go home."

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Wolf," Panther scolded mildly but quickly toned it down, remembering his place in the group, "Consider this a vacation from the cold confines of Sargasso."

Wolf glared at him half-heartedly and sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Is there any high ground we can use to get a better look around? I can't see anything in this mess."

"That's why you have me." Panther purred and scrambled up a nearby tree with little effort, "Ah, I haven't climbed trees like this since I was a boy living on Fortuna. Every morning I-

"That's sweet and all, Panther," Wolf rolled his eye impatiently, "but reminisce later. What do you see?"

The black jaguar pulled out a pair of zoom-goggles and peered through the lenses down through the canopy and around the forest.

"Very little, unfortunately, the canopy's too thick." His tail gave a curious twitch and he leaned further against the tree branch, "Hello there…"

"I see my indigo beauty." He purred, "I see Krystal."

"Krystal!" Wolf barked surprised, "Are the others with her?"

"Naturally," he sighed disappointed.

"I knew it!" Leon hissed, "I've been saying it! There was something wrong with this whole setup. That old goat sent Starfox here to apprehend us, no doubt!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." Panther zoomed in on Slippy, "That toad's looking at the same map Lorenzo gave us. It would be more probable to assume he sent Starfox on the same mission as us."

"That's not any better." Wolf growled, "How far are they?"

"It wouldn't take long for us to catch up to them."

"What do you say, Wolf? Stomp out the competition?"

"No," he grinned, "Let's give them a chance to breathe before we jump them. C'mon, Panther, we're heading out. It's a long walk."

* * *

"It's really hot out." Felix panted as he shifted an overstuffed backpack slung on his shoulders, "Why do I have to carry all the equipment?"

"Because I said so." Reginald dismissed him as he walked on ahead of you, "Don't whine. It's good for you. It builds character, strength, and it saps all the hyperactivity out of you."

The kit scowled bitterly and huffed as he caught up to his larger companion, "How are you not tired? All you do is lie around and watch TV with snacks, so where are you getting this energy?"

Reggie laughed. "I'm not lazy, just resting up."

The black cat froze suddenly and stopped the young feline boy.

"What's wro-

He shushed him and pulled out a small scanning device from his pocket. "Damn," He hissed slightly and stowed it away in his pocket again, "We're not alone. They're up ahead."

* * *

"Why does it have to be hooooooot?" whined Trey as the team trekked on through the jungle.

"Trey, we detected 7 other groups here." Orpheus snapped, "I think you should be more concerned about that."

"But I'm hoooooot!" she whined even louder, earning a small thump on the head from Farello.

"Hush," he admonished, "Unless you want the others to find us."

"Too late!" cried someone leaping out of the undergrowth.

There was a moment of surprise and confusion, and then the two groups were in a flurry of violence, throwing punches, growling and snapping at each other. Farello wrestled one to the ground and recognized the brown and white wolf he was holding down.

"Oh boy." He groaned and pulled her back up, "Trey, guess who!"

The ewe looked behind her at him and was stunned. "Stop! STOP!" she screeched them all to a halt.

"Trey!" the wolf was equally stunned, "What the heck!"

"Timber, what are you doing here?" she walked up to her.

Farello let her go, and the she-wolf straightened herself out. "I'm on a job, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in about a month!" she answered excitedly.

"I know; we need to keep in touch better." She laughed, "I'm on a job too, so what have you been up to?"

"I've been good. Wait, you're on a job?"

"Yeah! Some antique guy needs us to get an artifact for him."

Timber was smoldering. "Well crap! He gave us that job too!"

"What! You took my job, you jerk!"

"How was I supposed to know he offered it to you too!"

"You could've called and asked!"

"Why would I do that! I need money too, you know!"

The others looked on in bewilderment, by now having gathered their composures.

"What just happened?" Roth finally asked.

"I don't know, but I think it'd be best if we all just not acknowledge it." Abel answered.

"So you guys got called by Lorenzo too, huh?" Orpheus asked.

"That's right." Zeke nodded, "I wonder why he'd give it to more than one team. This can't be good."

Faye shrank behind the Border collie uncomfortably when she saw Orpheus, but before he could say anything, the two squabbling leaders interrupted him.

"Guys!" Timber waved her arms to get their attention, "Come on, there's another group over this way. We're going to figure this whole thing out."

* * *

Bree gave her fluffed up coat a good shake. "It's not as bad as Titania, but I could deal without the humidity." She laughed.

"The other groups we detected don't seem to have noticed us." Bone reported as he looked at a scanner on his wrist communicator.

"Good, Flik, Tak, you two go scouting and find out just who we're dealing with."

The two small breeds nodded and darted off.

"Be careful out here, Bree." Ziggy warned, looking into the trees, "Lorenzo may not have been completely honest about whatever this is, but I know dangerous terrain when I see it. He wasn't lying about that."

* * *

Juneau watched the three dogs from a high branch a ways off, a pair of zoom goggles pressed against her spectacles. "There's five of them in this one, all dogs." She told the gray wolf man beside her.

"That's already seven we've found not even counting us." He said, "What's going on?"

"You're not going to like this, Chief." The red fox chimed in below, the others behind him.

"Lay it on me, Ro'ak."

"We found two more teams joining up. That makes eight more."

"Crap," Juneau growled and slid back down the tree with her companion at her heels, "What the heck is Lorenzo doing?"

"I suggest we talk about this somewhere else." The black jaguar stopped her, "Those teams were on their way here to talk to us."

"Fine, you take Kaia and Cole. Sevren and Ro'ak, stay here with me. We'll deal with them." She told him, "Be careful, Kane."

Kane nodded to her and dashed off with the coyote lady and the puma.

"I can smell rain." Sevren remarked, noticing how dark it was getting, "We should make this quick."

* * *

**Author's Note: And we'll end it there with a bit of foreshadowing to the events of the prologue. Yeah, kind of boring, this one, but it had to be done. I needed to set things up for the next chapter, where the interesting stuff starts happening.**


	6. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: You all know (or should know by the prologue) what happens next, they get into the all-out brawl once they figure out they've been given the same job because they want the moolah, dangit! Starfox gets dragged into it, utterly at a loss to what the heck's going on but getting an idea of things. I'm not going to write a whole chapter unnecessarily bridging that little gap in between "they're about to find out" and "they found out" because that would only bore you, and it would bore me. We don't want boring XD. So instead, we'll simply pick up where we left off on the action of the prologue. Enjoy! :D**

* * *

**Ashes of a Burnt Bridge**

Krystal's ears perked up as something tickled at her senses. People outside were still running around trying to find somewhere dry to wait out the ever-persistent rain storm, but that wasn't it. There was something inside the cave with them. Falco was keeping watch while Fox sat and calmly listened to the rain, and Slippy read through the info on his wrist communicator in a fit of boredom.

She shifted softly to get a better look of the open cave behind her. The walls were rough, the sticky clay smoothing over most of the sharp rock edges jutting out slightly. Whatever dug this place out wasn't going for comfort. She tried peering farther in to see all the way to the back, but it was too dark.

Suddenly, something golden glinted up in the top corner of the cave wall. She looked up at it, and it began to drift slowly down to her. The sound of dry leaves rustling over concrete came next, and suddenly the darkness began to move into the light pouring in, revealing the dull shine of old scales. Krystal gasped silently, eyes widening. Now she knew what she was sensing. This wasn't a cave. It was a den.

Stunned by the massive, slithering creature, she tried to say something, but those huge golden eyes stole her voice, and all she could do was open and close her mouth like a fish out of water and wave her hand up and down. A long, thin, forked tongue flickered for a moment and was gone in the next. The small almost inaudible hiss that followed managed to catch Fox's attention, and when he looked over, he yelped in surprise, falling back on Falco and tumbling outside with him. The movement set things into motion and Krystal high-tailed it out with Slippy scrambling out after her just as a large, horned serpentine head lashed out and snapped shut on air. It let out an angry roar and gave a mighty push, slipping its massive form all the way out.

The team ran as fast as their legs could carry them, the trees thankfully slowing down the large snake enough for them to get some distance. Fox started seeing the other teams and yelled out at them to run. A bolt of lightning flashed, and in the brief intense light, everyone froze and saw the large serpent rear up and unfurl a pair of wings. The lighting from the storm began to course through its body like blood veins and gathered in a jagged orb between its wings.

"Everybody run!" Fox cried out, and the crowd of mercenaries fled the creature.

It let out an ear splitting screech and brought the orb down on the ground. The ball smashed into a wave of paralyzing light that washed over the jungle and ran through everybody.

They all looked behind them at the torrent crashing towards them, and the minute it made contact, everything went black.

* * *

Wolf groaned as the treetops circled and spun above him. An obnoxious ray of sunlight shot into his eye, and he winced, slowly getting up. A weight on his stomach stopped him, and he saw a young brown mixed breed slumped over him. She stirred and looked up at him with calm yellow eyes that blazed when she realized where she was.

"What's going on!" She growled as she pinned him down, "Who are you, and where am I?"

Wolf kicked her off of him and got up. "What makes you think I know? I-

She lunged at him again and bit down on his arm.

Outraged he ripped her off and kicked her back away. "Knock it off, unless you want some broken bones!"

"Tell me what I want to know!"

"If you'd let me finish, I don't know any more than you do! I was getting out of the way of that…thing…and then I woke up here with you!"

She relaxed some. "That's the last thing I remember too." She looked around, "I don't see my team anywhere. I hope they're okay. When I get my hands on Lorenzo…" she trailed of snarling.

"Lorenzo called you too?"

"Yeah," she huffed angrily, brushing herself off, "And I plan to ring his neck for sending me and my friends out here to fight over some old trinket with a bunch of other mercenaries."

Wolf whipped out his blaster and pointed it at her head. "I need that reward money. It's nothing personal, just getting rid of some competition."

"And leave yourself alone in this madhouse with just a blaster for protection?" she countered.

"I can hold my own in a fight. I think I'll be okay."

"Maybe on the streets or in the cockpit, but I'd like to see you take down something like that snake beastie with that silly gun."

"I'll take my chances."

"I think you know I'm right, but you don't want to admit it and lose your 'big and bad' edge."

"Don't be so full of yourself."

"Fine then, pull the trigger. Prove me wrong."

Wolf stared at her long and hard, finger resting on the trigger as he debated it. Finally he stood down with an angrily defeated sigh.

She grinned victoriously and socked him in the face.

Wolf staggered back and shook his head clear, hand pressed to his cheek as he stretched the battered muscle. "What was that for!"

"Next time you point that thing at me, I won't be that nice." She growled dangerously low before brightening, "What's your name?"

"Wolf O'Donnel."

"Like Star Wolf's Wolf O'Donnel?"

"You got it."

"How cool, I never thought I'd get to punch a celebrity of the criminal world."

Wolf only growled in response as she walked off.

"Come on, we'll look for your teammates too."

He rolled his eye and unenthusiastically followed her. "I told you my name, now what's yours?"

She looked back at him and smiled sweetly. "It's Bree, just Bree."

* * *

"Fox, wake up, man." Falco's voice sounded far away, almost on the edge of hearing. The more he spoke the clearer and closer he sounded until the new volume jolted Fox out of his haze and he started coming around.

"Falco," he slurred as he sat up and let his senses take hold again, "Is everyone else okay?"

"I don't know. You're the first person I've seen. Everyone else is gone."

"Gone!" Fox got up and looked around, "Where are we?"

They were no longer surrounded by a dense cluster of trees. The air was clear and cool here, not a tree in sight. The two stood on a rock cliff in a mountainside.

"I woke up down that path a ways." Falco pointed to a downward slope behind them.

"Krystal, come in." Fox called into his wrist communicator but got no response, "Slippy, are you there?" Nothing.

"None of this makes any sense." The blue avian man shook his head tiredly, "Something about that light. It must have somehow transported us all to different parts of the planet."

"So we could be anywhere." Fox groaned as he pulled up a copy of the map he'd been smart enough to upload to his wrist communicator before they left, "According to this, we're at least a day's walk from where we were."

"Great, and with communications down, we can't split up."

A small commotion from down below caught their attention, and immediately the set out to investigate, hoping to find a familiar face.

"Such a harsh environment is no place for such a fragile beauty like yourself." Panther purred smoothly, "Tell me your name, my pretty bunny."

"Uh, Abel." The rabbit watched Panther strangely, "Can I help you?"

"Strange name for a pretty lady," he shrugged, "I'm Panther Caroso, and there are many ways you could help me, my dear."

"Like what?" he asked warily.

Panther took the rabbit's hand in his and gave it a soft sweet kiss. "Walk with me. Talk with me. I want to know how you've managed to slip my notice for so long, too long."

Abel grimaced and looked around. "Well, actually, I'm looking for my team, you see. I got separated and I really need to find them."

"Aw, there's no need to hurry. I was looking for my comrades too before I found you, and you're far easier on the eyes."

Abel wiggled uncomfortably, giving him an uneasy smile as he looked around frantically for anything to give him an excuse to escape. He saw Fox and Falco come walking towards them.

"Oh look! Complete strangers! Thank God!" he breathed relieved when Panther let go and faced the two.

"Why is it every time I'm in this situation you people manage to pop up and ruin the whole moment?" he hissed irritably.

"Panther?" Falco was surprised, "I didn't think Lorenzo would extend the offer to Star Wolf."

"Watch yourself, bird, just because I don't have my teammates with me doesn't make me any less dangerous."

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try something. Do it. See what happens." The bird taunted.

Panther was smoldering, and he advanced a step.

"Hey hey hey hey hey, come on now," Fox stepped between them before things could get out of hand, "We don't have time for this, guys. We need to find the others. That's our priority."

The two calmed down somewhat and stepped back compliantly.

"That's better. Now who are you?" he asked the amused rabbit watching them all.

"Abel," he ran up to them, "Your new best friend!"

"Traitor!" someone's voice sounded off close by.

The four gave each other a quick glance before heading in that direction to investigate.

Tak was bristling with fury as he faced Zeke, who stood tall before the Sheltie.

"I knew I'd see you all again someday, but this wasn't exactly how I'd imagined it." The Border collie spoke evenly.

"I'd kill you right here for what you did, but I know Ziggy would want you to answer to Bree first. He's always had a soft spot for you."

"And apparently you have one for him."

"I may not agree with him when it comes to you, but he's still my superior and my friend. I wouldn't dare cross him, unlike you."

"Would you stop with that?" Zeke snapped, "You have no idea what you're talking about. You were just a kid blindly putting faith in Bree when that happened."

"What's going on?" Fox asked warily.

The two canines stopped and looked over at the new group.

"Who are you?" Tak growled defensively.

"Fox Mcloud, leader of the Starfox team, you?" he shot back.

"Zeke Godfrey of Team Star Cloud," Zeke stepped in, "This is Tak from the Dog Pack. Don't mind him; he's an old and very bitter acquaintance."

Fox nodded warily. "I see. I'm looking for my teammates, a blue vixen and a toad. Have either of you seen them?"

"No," Zeke shook his head, "Tak's the first person I've seen today. Has everyone been separated from their teams?"

"It would seem so." Panther piped up and moved next to Abel, "I suggest we all stick together until we can find the others."

"For once, I agree with Panther." Fox replied, "You're both welcome to join us."

"Thank you." Zeke nodded and looked to Tak, "Well?"

"Fine," he scoffed, "but you stay away from me."

"You won't have to worry about that." He answered through gritted teeth.

* * *

"Reggie!" Felix cried out desperately.

The fog of the swamp he sloshed through was intense, making it hard for him to see. The poor kit shivered in sheer terror as he frantically ran in no particular direction. Tears were welling in his eyes. He was alone. He didn't want to be alone.

"Reggie!"

He heard movement behind him and he whipped around.

"R-Reggie?" he sniffled.

A small lithe form was starting to take shape as it moved towards him. That wasn't his heavyset companion. Terrified, he ran away, going faster when he looked back and saw the figure running after him. He kept running until he hit something solid and was thrown back by the impact. With a small groan, he got back up and jumped when he saw a strange twin-tailed creature moaning on the ground. He gray fur was spattered with the spongy swamp dirt. Felix froze as the man got up, heart pounding at the sight of those glowing red eyes.

"Hey, watch it, kid!" he snapped.

"S-sorry…" he barely breathed, eyes wide and round.

They both looked back as Felix's pursuer finally caught up, revealing itself to be another twin-tailed animal, this one brown with glowing bright blue eyes.

"Kid, wait!" she huffed as she came to a stop, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Hey, get away from me, freaks!" he backed away from both of them.

"Shut up, brat!" the gray snapped.

"Knock it off!" the woman cut him off and turned to the kit kindly, "Just calm down. I'm a friend."

She seemed sincere enough, so he relaxed a little. He kept his eye on the red-eyed gray still, not convinced he meant well.

"There, that's better." She sighed relieved, "You're pretty fast for a kid."

"Why were you following me in the first place?" he asked her.

"You're the first person I've seen since I woke up in this awful place, and I don't think it's a good idea to be alone in a place like this. I'm Faye."

"Felix," he looked at them both curiously, their tall ears, large glowing eyes, two tails, "What are you?"

She smiled and laughed a little, "We're Kholi."

"I've never heard of them before."

"We're new to Lylat. Our people left our home world to find a better home. Now we live on Sauria."

"The dinosaur planet?" he grimaced, "Really?"

"It's perfect for us, lots of plants and trees. It's peaceful."

"Whatever you say." He wasn't entirely convinced.

"I'd hate to interrupt this lovely little pow-wow the two of you are having, but we've got more important things we could be doing."

Faye looked up at him to say something, but something else caught her attention, a small group heading their way. "Looks like we've got some new additions."

A little white dog with a floppy cap threw himself on the gray kholi. "Orpheus, thank God!"

"Roth," he rasped out under the boy's grip, "Yes, it's me. You can let go!"

Faye nodded to the other two, a Great Dane and a puma. "I'm Faye. Please don't feel threatened. You're welcome here."

"What makes you think you can trust either of us, my dear?" the old dog asked, "Only last night we were shooting at you."

"Well, considering the circumstances, we don't really have the luxury of distrust, do we?" she countered, "Besides, the distance the two of you put between each other tells me you don't know each other. You guys seem fine despite that, so something tells me I don't have much to worry about."

He grinned. "Well, Faye, you certainly inspire confidence. I'm Bone."

"Cole Sharpclaw," the wildcat introduced himself politely, "you're kindness is very much appreciated."

She smiled and nodded to them both.

"Orpheus, you would not believe my day! First I wake up in wherever this is, and then I had to deal with this maniac lizard and-

"Wait wait wait, you mean there's someone else here?" Orpheus cut the dog off.

"Yes, but he left once he realized the artifact Lorenzo wanted was supposed to be in a temple somewhere in this swamp. I tried telling him we couldn't worry about that now, but he wouldn't listen, crazy old scale-face."

"We should go find him." Faye said.

"Were you listening just now?" Orpheus replied, "It doesn't sound like he has any interest in sticking with a group, and I think we'd be better off without him anyways."

"Well we just can't leave him by himself out here. I don't care who he is. It's too dangerous."

The gray kholi gave her a hard glare and opened his mouth to say something, but she was already done with him and looking up the location of said temple.

"It's not far from here according to this. Let's hope the goat's map isn't shady either." She started leading the way out.

Felix bounded after her. Cole shrugged and followed nonchalantly.

Orpheus gaped irritably. "Who says she's in charge?"

Bone laughed heartily. "Save it, lad. When someone like her gets it into her head to do something she'll do it alone if she has to, but she'll get it done. It's only until we find everyone else, so just roll with it."

Roth groaned. "I don't want to see that crazy lizard again, especially if he's going to be traveling with us afterwards. Let's just get this over with."

Orpheus smoldered in his defeat as he watched them catch up. "Am I the only one who sees how strange this whole thing is!" he cried out in frustration before reluctantly following.

Leon looked around inside the domed hut of stone, grass, and mud. It was a small structure with crumbling adornments, squishy floor, and an almost unbearable musty stench.

"Some temple." The chameleon scoffed.

The scoff turned into a gasp of shock, and he ran up to the back of the room where a small crumbling pedestal stood. He examined thoroughly, looking all around it and then frantically scanning the rest of the small temple with no luck.

"There's no artifact!" he cried out.

* * *

"Trey, you have no idea how glad I am to see you're okay." Timber gave the sheep a tight hug, happily relieved.

"Of course I'm okay." she laughed and hugged her back, "I even found Farello!"

The crow was preoccupied. "Have either of you noticed something strange?"

"Like what?" Timber asked.

"Like, oh say, the fact we're walking through a seemingly endless cave with no idea of how we got here?" he replied with thick sarcasm.

The young she-wolf looked at her surroundings. It _was_ a little dark come to think of it. The walls were smooth and well carved, and a soft mist clung to everything. There was light, but it was very dim, and a faint roaring echoed through the tunnel.

"And so we are." She agreed in a how-about-that manner.

"How do you two survive in this system?"

"Farello, don't be mean." Trey scolded.

Suddenly, a loud boom, followed by a streak of blaster fire, interrupted their banter and clipped the crow's wing. Farello let out a squawk of pain and whipped his blaster out. Before he could fire, a humongous dark shape overpowered him, and the two rolled around on the damp ground.

"I'm starving." The man growled, "I'm so hungry that bird meat is beginning to sound fantastic."

"Get off of him, you sick crazy scum!" Trey leapt to her friend's rescue, punching him dead in the face.

The shock of the blow stunned him long enough for Farello to gain some advantage and pin him down.

"You've got a lot of nerve doing that." The crow spat.

With her slight night vision, Timber saw that the attacker was an older, bulky and overweight black cat. He was an intimidating sight as he hissed back defiantly. Thinking quickly, she fished through her pocket and beamed when she saw it was still there.

"Hey, I have food!" she waved a protein bar in the air, "I always keep one of these on my person for emergencies, and I'm pretty sure this qualifies."

The cat perked up. "Food?" he laughed, "My dear sweet girl, be a kind soul and let me have a nibble? I'm famished."

"I don't know." She tapped the bar against her forehead, the wrapper making a light crinkly noise, "I don't think you deserve it after you attacked my friend's teammate like that."

"I'll make it up to you!" he said desperately, eyeing the bar like treasure.

"How?"

"What works for you?"

"You have to do whatever I tell you to."

"Except that."

"You know, this is starting to look really tasty."

"Fine! But only until I get back to my own ship."

"Deal!" she barked triumphantly and held his prize out to him.

With new energy, he shoved Farello off of him, scrambled up and snatched the food from her greedily.

"Smart thinking, Odie!" Trey complimented, using her friend's pet name.

"Strange but effective." Farello agreed less obviously.

"Thanks! What's your name, by the way?" she looked back at the cat, who was powering through his snack.

"Sir Reginald III," he answered when he finished, "but you can just call me Reggie for short."

"Hey, are you all right? Can you hear me?"

Krystal woke to hear the soft feminine voice that soothed her ears. A coyote woman knelt over her, looking her over carefully. She felt wet and became aware that she was half submerged in the shore of a waterfall basin, the loud roar giving away the waterfall.

"Who are you?" she asked hazily as she sat up and back out of the water.

"Oh sorry," the coyote held out her hand amiably, "Kaia Brushfur, medic to the Animus mercenary team."

Krystal took her had politely, eyeing her strangely. "Krystal of the Starfox Team, you're awfully friendly for a rival."

"I'm only your rival when it comes to getting that Serpent's Coil," Kaia reassured her, "But I won't waste my time with petty rivalry when we're stuck like this."

The vixen sensed her honesty and kindness as clear as a bell's ring and decided she could be trusted. "Good to know." She nodded with a smile that quickly turned to a frown as she remembered the events of last night, "That snake." She shuddered fearfully, "Where is it?"

"I haven't seen it since the storm. I don't know what happened to it. There's a cave behind this waterfall. I heard some commotion from inside and thought there might be someone in trouble, but when I went to go find out, I found you first."

Krystal extended her telepathy to sense what was inside the cave, and a splitting headache lashed back at her. She cringed and put her hands to her head with a groan.

"What's wrong?"

"Whatever that snake used on us messed up my senses. My telepathic abilities are drained, so I can't tell what's inside there."

"Telepathic?" she was intrigued, "Well, I guess we'll just have to go in and find out the old-fashioned way."

She helped Krystal up and waited for her to get her bearings before the two ladies headed inside carefully.

* * *

"Ro'ak, calm down." Sevren tried soothing the frantically pacing fox.

"How do you expect me to calm down! My poor Kaia's out there somewhere, and who knows what danger she could be in!"

"Ro'ak, Kaia's not the only one missing. We haven't found Cole either." Kane pointed out impatiently.

"Both of whom _you_ were supposed to keep with you!"

"You can hardly blame me for something out of my control. That monster scattered us, not me."

"Knock it off, guys." Juneau warned, "Kane's right, this wasn't anyone's fault, so we can stop pointing fingers." She softened, "Ro'ak, I know you're worried about her. I am too, but this is Kaia we're talking about. She can take care of herself and same goes for Cole. You never know. They could be together somewhere else."

Ro'ak sighed and nodded compliantly.

"That's better. We all have to keep our heads on straight."

Someone's whiny cry sounded off and echoed through the trees, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Someone's in trouble." Sevren dashed off.

"My bumbling hero," Juneau laughed and led the others after him.

They ran until they reached a small clearing in the jungle, where the scene unfolded before them.

Two dogs, an Australian shepherd and his younger Jack Russel partner had a shivering lime green toad cornered, back up against a thick tree trunk.

"You'll spill one way or another, Froggy." The shepherd growled, his friend laughing as he flicked open a pocket knife, "What's it gonna be?"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Sevren howled and ran down to them.

"Sevren!" Juneau groaned, "Oh lord, he's got the walk and everything. Why do I keep finding these guys?"

The gray wolf puffed out his chest as he strutted over to them. "Well?"

"Well what?" the shepherd looked him up and down.

"Are you going to leave the man be, or do I need to make you?"

The terrier laughed. "What's with this guy?"

"Froggy here has a map of the whole planet, but he won't let us see it."

"That's Slippy, you jerk, and I won't let you see because you tried to steal it from me!"

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying the sound of your voice is?" the shepherd growled menacingly.

"All right, that's enough." Juneau walked out with the others.

"And who are you?"

"Juneau Grayfang, leader of the Animus Team. What's your excuse?"

"I'm just a mechanic, Ziggy Godfrey." He said with mock humbleness.

"Yeah, yeah, save the antics."

"Hey, you're not the boss of us!" the terrier snapped, taking a step forward.

Immediately, Kane and Ro'ak took a step challengingly.

"Easy, Flik, that won't do any good when we're outnumbered." Ziggy watched them amused.

"I'm not interested in a fight with you. Normally I wouldn't even bother going this far, but my teammate would never forgive me if I turned the other cheek." She eyed Sevren. "Just be on your way, and leave Slippy alone."

"I'm afraid where the map goes, we go." He countered, "You see we lost our bearings after that stupid slithering beastie dropped us off here away from the rest of our team, and we can't be on our way if we don't know where we are or where to go."

"Well, he's coming with us, and if you plan to come along, I _will_ be the boss until you find yours."

"Um, hi!" Slippy waved his arms, "Don't I get a say in this!"

"You've really only got two choices: us or them. At least with us, you've got a buffer."

The toad deadpanned. "Just my luck."

* * *

**Author's Note: Starting now, each chapter is going to feature one group at a time. Sure, it'll drag the story on some, but trust me, it's way less chaotic, and it gives each group more room to develop. So hey! Bet you didn't that coming! You probably did XD I realize this is a very overused plot aspect, but that's just the way it's going to be. Tell me how you like it! And Tell me which group you'd like to be featured in the next chapter! :D**


End file.
